Sanchez lifts Thunder to win on 28th birthday

TRENTON — Even without top prospect Tyler Austin, the Thunder got plenty of production from right field Thursday night.

Stepping in for Austin against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats was Cuban Yeral Sanchez. Playing on his 28th birthday, Sanchez hit a three-run home run and flashed some impressive leather in the Thunder’s 9-2 win at Arm & Hammer Park.

“So far so good,” manager Tony Franklin said of Sanchez, who has only been with the club since July 16. “He’s done a nice job.”

Sanchez showed off his power early, blasting his three-run homer off New Hampshire starter Deck McGuire in the first inning. The stadium wasn’t big enough to hold the blast, as it cleared all the advertisements above the wall in left field.

Sanchez also made a pair of fantastic warning track catches, stealing doubles from Andy Burns in the first and Jack Murphy in the second.

“It gives you physical reassurance that those guys are out there grinding for you, going through the same heat that you are going through, and are willing to put their bodies on the line to make plays for you,” said Thunder starter Zach Nuding, who was the beneficiary of several nice defensive plays throughout the game.

Up 3-2 in the seventh inning, the Thunder got a pair of insurance runs courtesy of centerfielder Slade Heathcott, who hit a two-run homer to right, scoring Ramon Flores. The Thunder then broke the game open with a four-run eighth, in which Heathcott, Flores and Jose Pirela all picked up RBI.

“Slade was struggling earlier in the year, no doubt about it, but the kid is starting to play some pretty good baseball,” Franklin said.

Though Nuding gave up just the two runs, it wasn’t a classic performance from the 6-foot-4 right-hander. He needed 82 pitches to get through five innings, walking five and giving up six hits. On four separate occasions, the Fisher Cats hit what appeared to be sure doubles, only to have the Thunder outfield rob them at the warning track.

“Today was off-speed,” said Nuding, when asked how he was attacking hitters. “I didn’t have near the fastball command that I usually do, so I had to use other factors of the game to get me through the five innings I was out there. That’s all of what pitching’s about.”

The Fisher Cats were able to get on the board in the first after a Brad Glenn RBI single, then scored again in the fourth when Flores couldn’t track down a Jack Murphy double to left field. That, however, would be all the offense the Fisher Cats would be able to muster.

Relievers Danny Burawa and Tommy Kahnle continued to walk the same tightrope as Nuding — they issued a combined six free passes in three innings — but didn’t let in a run. Rigoberto Arrebato pitched the ninth to preserve the win for Nuding.

Coming into the game, the Fisher Cats had been the hottest team in the Eastern League, have won their last eight contests. Thursday, however, their luck ran out. They left 12 men on base and grounded into three double plays.

The two teams will continue their four game set Friday with another 7:05 start.

NOTES: Thursday was the first Thunder home game since their bat dog Chase passed away. The team had a moment of silence before the first pitch, and the current bat dog Derby did not retrieve bats as a tribute to Chase…Prior to the game, the Thunder were subject to a drug test with a representative from Major League Baseball collecting urine samples in the clubhouse.